Boiled Peanuts

[Squeat Mungry]

Thanks for the link Squeat, but now I'm totally confused.  I thought you're supposed to boil them with the shells on.

BTW, I don't think these are green peanuts.

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From the Times item it sounds like they are freshly-harvested, right? That's what is meant by "green". And yes, boil with shells on. I didn't even notice that that page had separate instructions for "Dried Raw Shelled Peanuts"! I'm pretty sure that's not what you have anyway. Even if they have been stored in the shell for some time, which I doubt, you can boil them in the shell the same way, it will just take longer -- after 45 minutes or so, test one every ten minutes or so until they are tender -- like a cooked dry pea or bean.

Hope that helps clear things up... Sorry for the confusion!

Squeat

[therese]

Bloviatrix, the following is my recipe for boiled peanuts that I posted much earlier in this thread. I'm copying it here for you, bolding the salient points:

You can make boiled peanuts from any raw, in-shell peanuts. But they are traditionally made in the early fall, when the peanut crop has just come in. So if you buy your boiled peanuts from somebody who actually grows them (or has easy access to them) you'll likely get the new version, at least in the early fall. The mature raw peanuts give a much more uniform final product, whereas as the new peanuts will include all sorts of little mutant forms that will have been culled from packaged fully mature ones. I like both, and the really baby ones will have a thick sort of spongy shell that's not particularly well-separated from the nut itself. They seem to have a "greener" flavor as well.

You can make boiled peanuts from any raw, in-shell peanuts. But they are traditionally made in the early fall, when the peanut crop has just come in. So if you buy your boiled peanuts from somebody who actually grows them (or has easy access to them) you'll likely get the new version, at least in the early fall. The mature raw peanuts give a much more uniform final product, whereas as the new peanuts will include all sorts of little mutant forms that will have been culled from packaged fully mature ones. I like both, and the really baby ones will have a thick sort of spongy shell that's not particularly well-separated from the nut itself. They seem to have a "greener" flavor as well.

By the way, if you can't cook boiled peanuts you can't cook, period.

And the idea of eating canned boiled peanuts is simply beyond, well, beyond something. If you are that desperate let me know and I will come to your house and cook them for you, okay?

Here's my recipe:

Get peanuts, water, salt, and a slow cooker (you can do it on the stovetop but you have to keep adding water as it boils off; you can leave it overnight in the slow cooker). No sugar.

Put the peanuts in the slow cooker and add enough water to cover (the peanuts will float, so the water won't really cover them, but you know what I mean). Add salt until the water tastes salty. I have no idea how much salt this is; depends on how much water you add, I guess.

Cook them until they are done. This will vary a lot depending on how mature the peanuts are, etc. They are done you find that the shell has been soaked and there's salty water inside and the peanuts are soft. How soft? No crunchiness left, but not falling apart (though some people like them fallling apart).

If you find that they are too salty you can pour off the salty water and replace with fresh; the salt will equilibrate pretty rapidly with a bit more cooking.

If you have undersalted them you will hopefully have figured it out before they're fully cooked and corrected the water.

Undersalted boiled peanuts are completely useless. Do not attempt boiled peanuts unless you are willing to eat salt.

I store them undrained in the slow cooker in the fridge, scooping them out for microwave heating as necessary.

The "Cook them until they are done" part of the recipe is the key: you won't know long this takes until you know how long it took to cook that particular batch. No need to agonize over it, it's not a souffle, and cooking them longer (so long as you don't cook them right down into a formless mush, which I've never ever managed to do, and I routinely leave mature peanuts in the slow cooker overnight on low) will not hurt them.

[lovebenton0]

The guy that runs the vegetable stand in my little town has them all the town. They are boiled in a spicy mixture instead of just salt (although there is still plenty of that) and man are they good. He boils them in salt, crab boil, and a pretty healthy dose of Tabasco Mash. I go there a couple of times a week and get stuff and he usually throws in a baggie full as lagniappe. Nice guy that tomato man.

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Wow! You've just given me another use for my own Tabasco mash. Thanks, Mayhaw Man.

[Swisskaese]

Now you are really making me homesick!!!!

Every summer we would make that long drive from Northeast Alabama to Daytona Beach or Clearwater, Fl and my mother would not let my father continue the drive south until he stopped for boiled peanuts on the Georgia-Florida border.

I love boiled peanuts and you definitely can't get them here in Israel. I really like cajun boiled peanuts.

My North Carolina Grand Mother makes her own and she always makes them with green peanuts.

Edited October 30, 2004 by Swisskaese (log)

[bloviatrix]

I think I'm in love. My lips are all salty, and my fingers are wrinkled. Plus, my t-shirt is damp from squirting nuts.

Things have been quite hectic here, so tonight I finally got around to making the boiled peanuts. Wow!!! They are amazing. First of all, they were so simple to make. And he texture was great and they had a perfect level of saltiness to them.

To add to the southerness, we drank Coke with them.

Now I know why you've been been keeping this a southern secret for all these years -- if more people knew about them, there would be less for you.

[Varmint]

It's not that we've been hiding this "secret." It's just that most of the boiled peanuts you get are so dang nasty that no one really wants any. But when you get some good, fresh ones . . . YUM!

[therese]

To add to the southerness, we drank Coke with them.

Now I know why you've been been keeping this a southern secret for all these years -- if more people knew about them, there would be less for you.

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A really great beverage with boiled peanuts is apple cider. Hard cider's even better.

And it's not a question of us having kept boiled peanuts a secret, but of most non-southerners finding the idea of non-crunchy peanuts quite offensive. I've spent years getting people to try them, and the majority are just freaked out by them.

Were the peanuts in question freshly harvested "green" peanuts? Assuming the little ones hadn't been culled you'll have had some that still had spongy shells. I used to work with a guy whose family grew peanuts, and he'd bring me enormous bags of green peanuts every year.

[bloviatrix]

To add to the southerness, we drank Coke with them.

Now I know why you've been been keeping this a southern secret for all these years -- if more people knew about them, there would be less for you.

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A really great beverage with boiled peanuts is apple cider. Hard cider's even better.

We actually have apple cider in the house. I never associated it with the south though.

Were the peanuts in question freshly harvested "green" peanuts? Assuming the little ones hadn't been culled you'll have had some that still had spongy shells. I used to work with a guy whose family grew peanuts, and he'd bring me enormous bags of green peanuts every year.

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These were freshly harvested green peanuts. One of the farmers at the greenmarket I fequent is growing them this year. It seems they've made a hit with the community -- they've been selling out quite quickly.

[BakerChick]

So back to cookin' the goobers - my daddy just bought an electric pressure cooker(don't ask me what it is) and wants to know how long or at what temp/pressure to boil our peanuts in the thing. We are using dried raw nuts, not fresh. Thanks!

[joiei]

"We actually have apple cider in the house. I never associated it with the south though." from Bloviatrix

edited because i can not figure out how to reply with quotes from other posts. sorry,

Up in North Carolina, I remember some excellent apples and cider over toward the western end of the state when I was younger. It was a treat for a kid from Florida to get to see apples still growing on trees. And the fresh squeezed cider was something I have good memories of. You had to drink it pretty quickly, because its shelf life was short, or at least that is what I wanted to believe. I do not know the varieties of apples grown in North Carolina, but they have apples.

Edited November 5, 2004 by joiei (log)

[therese]

We actually have apple cider in the house.  I never associated it with the south though.

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Well, time to change your mind. Apples figured prominently in my childhood diet, pretty much all them grown on my grandmother's farm in western Virginia. Much of the south is not particularly hot, as much of it's at elevation (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia all either partially or predominantly mountain), so apples are well-suited to the climate and relatively short growing season.

The type of apple my grandmother preferred was a type she called "Transparent". Tart, very juicy, very thin pale green skin. I've never seen them anywhere but in that part of the country, and even then I haven't seen them in a long time.

Great cooking apples that she used for making apple sauce and apple butter (canned, of course, to last the year) and fried pies (from apple sauce, a treat for the hours spent milling it by hand). Also great for eating straight up. Incredibly great apple-y scent, not even remotely like grocery store apples.

The apple trees grew in what was called "the bottom" on the farm: a relatively narrow valley through which a stream meandered, used for grazing milk cows. So very reminiscent of a Flemish painting, with happy cows grazing under huge mature apple trees.

Because peanuts and apples do not necessarily enjoy the same growing conditions, you wouldn't necessarily expect to find boiled peanuts and apple cider in the same place at the same time unless you were in an area that had some overlap, like Georgia.

I'll add that beer also makes a fine accompaniment to boiled peanuts.

[spaghetttti]

Ooooh, I am very happy to have found some at the Eden Shopping Mall in Falls Church, VA. These were so luscious and salty, I almost ate the whole bag by myself. Still smacking my lips, mmmmm. Great with apple cider!

$2.00 a pound.

[therese]

Nice pics, Yetty. From the picture it looks like those are new green peanuts, with lots of little baby ones still included.

[bloviatrix]

BTW, I loved those peanuts so much that I bought more at the market. And since we were going to friends, I bought a bag for them and wrote out the instructions.

[joiei]

Time to bring this thread back. I just found a good recipe site for all those wanting to try to boil their own. And if you need a place to get your raw peanuts, Here is another link to have them shipped to your front door. I think I will be doing up some this week. Yum.

[racheld]

We just got back from a weekend in Georgia...while there we bought several bags, though we make them at home, as well.

We stayed in our usual hotel, and reminisced that last year, we stood in the dark at our sixth-floor window on July 4th, wearing only our underwear, watching the fireworks right outside, while we munched drippy boiled peanuts and drank icy Co-Cola.

No travel agent could have arranged the "Southern experience" better.

[Angeline7270]

I found a website that sells a 5 lb bag of raw in the shell peanuts for 6.49. Not a bad price. Here's the link...kingnut.com? I lived in Savannah for a year when I was 21, I was addicted to boiled peanuts. When I moved up to Cleveland, I was able to get raw peanuts at the West Side Market. I moved to Illinois 4 yrs ago and haven't been able to find any around here...can't wait til they get here!

[SuzySushi]

Boiled peanuts, BTW, are also a popular snack in Hawaii. They're cooked the Chinese way, seasoned with soy sauce and star anise, and sold chilled. Just about every supermarket sells them -- inexplicably, usually at the fish counter!

[Swisskaese]

I have never heard of boiled peanuts being made with shelled or unshelled raw (dried, non-roasted) peanuts.

In Alabama, Georgia and Florida they are always made with green peanuts (not dried) in the shell.

You can order green peanuts here.

Edited October 11, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Angeline7270]

Boiled peanuts can be made with dried, unroasted raw peanuts in the shell, too. Just takes a lot longer to boil them. Mine came out really good, after about 6 hrs of boiling. My mil who lived in FL for over 20 years said she never used the green ones, and never had a problem. I'm sure the green are much quicker, the recipes I've seen call for boiling them 1 1/2-3 hrs. Oh, well. The end result was the same, and I have the time...I'm home with the babies all day anyway. Maybe next time I'll try the green ones and see if I can see a big difference.

[bloviatrix]

I picked up my first batch of green peanuts for Fall '05 today. They're so green, they're still attached to the plants.

[racheld]

Where on Earth did you find those where you live? And was the price above rubies?

Lucky you---I try to imagine sometimes where New Yorkers who live in the midst of all that hustle-bustle and the great buildings and all that bounty of things-to-do laid out like a banquet actually SHOP for groceries. My imagination conjures a small oasis in which a Kroger or even an A&P sits smiling on a little block all its own, shaded by the shadows of towering Wall Street and all the business giants, beckoning with plenty of parking and friendly hometown faces and weekly specials on Sirloin and canned peas.

The logistics of buying and carting home all the groceries we are accustomed to casually picking up at our local markets must be boggling in a land of skyscrapers and so much paved land. My smalltown mind just wanders to a rooftop laid out with a market laden with all manner of foodstuffs, soaring above all the hurry below, awaiting any and all who care to ascend and buy.

I see the small stores depicted in movies and television, in which customers drape a small plastic basket over an arm and pick bottles of olive oil and wine from shelves not laden, but offering small room to each variety of their wares. Where are the wide aisles, the two-baskets-passing room, the pyramids of produce, the hairnet ladies proffering new tastes in fluty cups?

Those images and realities are so much a part of my own life in the market and the kitchen and cooking for my family and friends, my experience colors my ideas of city food-gathering. The cliche one-paper-bag with carrot tops limply draped over the top, held in one elbow-crook, hand grasping the crinkle-papered sheaf of flowers, whilst the apartment-dweller fishes in purse for doorkey to home has been thrust upon the movie-going public for far too long.

Whichever of the above applies to your own grocery-buying, could you elaborate? I've always wondered.

Sorry for the hijack---peanuts in Manhattan, and plants as well---now that's an image worth saving.

Edited October 15, 2005 by racheld (log)

[bloviatrix]

The peanuts came from the greenmarket. And they cost $3 for a very large batch. There's one guy who grows them, and he sells his stuff at the greenmarket near my apartment.

As for how New Yorkers shop....remember that Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn are very different from the rest of the boroughs. People don't have cars, and the markets don't have parking lots. If you're doing a big shop you're either going to have it delivered, or you have a cart to schlep all your groceries. Many people just order all their groceries online via Freshdirect and they come delivered. Because real estate is at such a premium, our markets aren't huge mega-liths. And when someone like Whole Foods builds a new market that's 50,000 sq ft, it's cause for discussion.

Because we tend not to have a lot of storage space, we tend to shop more frequently and buy in smaller quantities. We shop more like europeans - multiple purveyors and picking up items daily. And then on top of the stores, there is the greenmarket. There's one near my apartment I go to every Friday and I frequently go to 2 others - one is a 1 mile walk and the other is a subway ride. I have a very large canvas sack that I take and fill up. Once it's too heavy to carry, it's time to go home.

If you're really curious, look at the New York forum. There are threads about food shopping. It might give you a better idea of how we function in the big city.

[racheld]

That's so interesting to me--all here in the same country--such a diversity in Ways as well as Means. Wish you could just spell out a day, where your searches take you, etc.

Hey!!! Powers That Be!!! Give Blovi a Blog!!!

[annecros]

Boiled peanut pig here from way back! We used to use a syrup kettle to boil them for family reunions and such at Labor Day. I can get green peanuts down here at Publix, but they just aren't the same. Recently visited my Mom in Southwest Georgia, and brought back peanuts I boiled there for my son who could not go with us. He was so excited! "Mom, these are the real thing, you can taste the dirt!"

There is something about that south Georgia soil that does wonderful things for the vegetables grown in it. Tomatoes, peas, butter beans, greens, sweet potatoe - all pick up a distinctive flavor from the soil in which they were grown. Georgia peanuts also seem to have a high oil content.

I've made myself sick off boiled peanuts. Then come back for more punishment the next day!